A new L.A. news site has grown out of the ashes of AOL Inc.’s Patch – the hyperlocal news network that cut many of its journalists and editors in Los Angeles earlier this year under financial duress.
In March, shortly after Patch’s implosion, Chris Jennewein, a former senior regional editor for the network in Southern California, launched an online-only news site, Times of San Diego.
Last week, he announced the launch of his second site, aimed at L.A. readers, called MyNewsLA. The site will cover general news topics such as crime, business and sports, but intends to do so with minimal overhead.
“One of the things that struck me at Patch was that the concept was great, but the overheard was very high,” Jennewein said. “It was a national network with an expensive operation in New York. We don’t have that.”
The site employs two full-time editors who work remotely, and gathers much of its content from wire reports and other information available online.
Jennewein, who is editorial director, also oversees the site’s advertising business, which relies on automated sales of banner ads through Google Inc. and AOL.
The sites use search-engine optimization to drive traffic, Jennewein said. The San Diego site attracts about 200,000 unique visitors a month, and about half of those are on mobile devices.
The strategy of targeting large metropolitan areas departs from the Patch model, which was geared toward specific neighborhoods and communities, something Jennewein expects will draw bigger crowds.
He said that he invested personal funds into the launch of the sites, although he declined to say how much.
Latin Beat
Radio station conglomerate iHeartMedia is staging a music festival at the Forum next month aimed at Latinos – and it could be the first of many.
The company, which changed its name last month from Clear Channel, is co-producing the event along with concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment of Beverly Hills.
Tom Poleman, iHeartMedia president of national programming platforms, said launching a festival that appeals to the large number of Spanish speakers in Los Angeles was an obviously attractive opportunity.
“It’s just natural that we would create a festival for the incredibly important Hispanic audience in L.A.,” Poleman said.
The Nov. 22 festival’s lineup includes big names such as Ricky Martin and Pitbull, and up-and-coming acts such as reggaeton artist J. Balvin and L.A. singer Becky G, who gained her following on YouTube.
IHeartMedia, based in San Antonio, owns eight radio stations in Los Angeles, including KIIS-FM (102.7), KBIG-FM (104.3) and KFI-AM (640).
The company is using the stations’ broad reach to promote the festival to listeners, with millions of dollars of air time going to advertising the event in Los Angeles as well as additional spots on stations in other parts of the country.
IHeartMedia and Live Nation are sharing the costs of production and will also share revenue. Sponsors include Sprint, Pepsi and State Farm.
IHeartMedia launched its first iHeartRadio festival in Las Vegas in 2011, and since then has identified such events as a good way to promote its iHeartRadio digital platform. Earlier this year, it launched its first country festival in Austin, Texas. The company also produces a pool party-themed music festival annually in Miami.
Poleman said he’s expecting to sell out the Forum, which has a capacity of 17,505. Nosebleed tickets were selling on Ticketmaster last week for $97.75, including Ticketmaster fees. Seats just rows back from the stage were going for $439.90, including fees.
Poleman said he believes the event will be successful enough to become an annual gathering.
“That’s been our model,” he said. “We establish these benchmark events, build the brand and bring them back year after year.”
Flood Mag
A co-founder of recently shuttered L.A. music mag Filter has moved on to his next publishing venture, Flood magazine.
Filter co-founders Alan Sartirana and Alan Miller went their separate ways this summer in what they described to Billboard as an amicable split. Filter ceased publication after about a dozen years in print.
Earlier this month, Sartirana started L.A. ad agency Anthemic, which does branded content, sponsorship and other advertising work for clients such as Toyota, Guitar Center and DirecTV.
Last week, Anthemic announced that it had launched a digital publication, Flood, to cover music, entertainment and other cultural happenings.
The site employs editors who had worked at Filter, and they work separately from the ad agency staff.
Miller, meanwhile, is heading up Culture Collide, which operates a namesake music-focused website and produces music festivals.
Staff reporter Jonathan Polakoff can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 226.
